Were your toys age-appropriate?

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When I went to take my drivers license test at age 25, me and my grandfather were waiting for one of the road testers to take me out. To pass the time, I took out a yo-yo and started playing with it. My grandfather was like, "Girl, put that yo-yo down! You getting a drivers license and you here playing with toys." I failed the test, by the way.

Of course his generation just doesn't have any tolerance for things outside one's supposed age range (he's in his 70s). I still have the yo-yo along with two containers of bubbles, a slinky, some electronic games, and a bunch of stickers in a container...and I'm in my late 30s. At least I'll have plenty of stuff to use for rewards when I start teaching.

I've considered getting myself one of those rainbow-colored xylophones on wheels after getting one for my year-old niece. I think I played with it more than she did.

Most of my toys and stuff were for older people. I had my first set of tools when I was 8 and had several Erektor sets. I had a mini lathe when I was 13. I guess I liked to play with non toys.

my toys were more of car parts, sometimes an engine part (spark plugs) or shock absorber, i never really liked toys from toy stores,

car parts made the imagination spread, i still have some of my "toys" (spark plugs and shock aborbers)


i may be female, but never really liked barbie or dolls or any girly toys or makeup kits or playing house


-Jess

When I was a kid my mom got rid of my baby and toddler toys when I got older, but I would often still play with the ones owned by my cousins who were younger or had parents who would just store them.

Two of my cousins whom I often visited had the original big red toy barn by Fisher-Price. The one that made a mooing sound without batteries when you opened it and had plastic cows and horses that could do headstands.
One of my other cousins had the Fisher-Price hospital with the original Little People. They don't make toys like that anymore. I've seen new versions of the red barn and it looks lame. Sigh...

Oh, and I would play with that activity center, too.

Some toys *are* age inappropriate - that is, they're safe for older kids don't put small parts in their mouths to choke on or tie cords and strings around their necks. But a lot of parents are clueless and don't read the warning labels on the package or have more than one kid and one of them is still small but gets into the older kid's toys and puts everything in their mouth. Except what is supposed to go in there, like food. Except the foods you're not supposed to give to toddlers like hard candies, marshmallows or even peanut butter. Go figure.

But being too *old* for toys? NEVER!

I don't remember toys being restricted, but there were times when things were either purged, or when my brother was born, he got most of my baby toys. My grandparents had a Brio wooden train set that was for the grandchildren, so my brother, cousins, and I all played with that. I did have some Barbies, but my favorite thing to play with was Legos as they were really unisex when I was growing up. Now, I still have a metal Slinky that I keep on a bookshelf, along with a Magic 8 Ball as reminders of childhood.

I remember playing with some vintage chemistry sets (1920s-1950s) when I was kindergarten age. My family bought them at a local garage sale from a retired couple. The sets would not be appropriate for that age group (or any below 18) now due to the safety hazards that were involved, but man they were fun to use. Some of the chemicals that I experimented with are not found in modern chemistry sets for liability reasons (ie. too dangerous/toxic).

Id say yes. As a kid i liked making my own toys more than buying them. I think a majority of them were age appropriate but not gender appropriate, i was not a fan of baby dolls and barbies.

I am 19 and still have many toys, so theyre all not age appropriate.

Yes, but it was because I'm from a large family and toys didn't last long in our family. I'd be lucky if my things lasted a month, let alone years. By the time I was a teenager, I didn't have any toys from my childhood.

They definitely were not gender appropriate though. As a kid, even as a toddler, I would not play with barbies or the like and I was gifted them often. When I went to the store, I headed straight to the boy aisle and messed with the toy guns. After awhile, people just gave up and gifted me gender neutral stuff.

I had to play with big chunky toys ( like baby toys) as a child because I had no sense of danger and so I could easily put small things in my mouth and not listen to my mum when she tried to teach me not to put things in my mouth unless its edible. But what I loved most was a big toy kitchen I had and I played with that the most, it had big chunky pots and pans and stuff what I couldn't swallow so it was ok.

I can think of two "little kid" things I played with well into my teens: a Brio wooden train set, and a set of plain wooden building blocks (cuboids, cylinders, arches etc.) I'd create rickety railway tracks from these that led over the patio steps. I never really got the hang of character-based play- I preferred things that can be built, transformed or permutated. And I was never interested in "proper" train sets. It's nice to see other people here loved those little wooden trains! I've seriously considered buying a set. And playing the German tabletop game "Bausack" was a real nostalgia thing for me- /extreme/ wooden block building!

I have age-inappropriate toys NOW. Getting back into Lego helped me through a really bad time in my mid-20s, and it's been a hobby ever since. And Transformers are very useful for fiddling with.

i played with dolls well into my teen years.... like, barbies and s**t. I didn't keep any of my baby toys, but i did keep a lot of my books meant for 5 years or younger

The term"Age appropriate" is a little loaded. I mean, I'm 28 and still play with my knight action figures and many other toys. But in regards to general concept of age, some were on-par, some more advanced and some not. Whatever I enjoyed was what mattered.

Walt Disney and Lauren Faust said "Age is just a number and we shouldn't have to worry if things are 'girly' or not."

That basically answers your question. To be honest, I had a mix. I seemed to get every video game console I wanted for Christmas as a kid, but still getting the latest Disney item I wanted. Thinking about it, I really never cared for a certain plastic army man that started with the letter J or a nocturnal superhero. Never was into many "boy" things besides Bob the Builder, which I would probably still go back and watch, as it's one of the best shows Nick Jr ever had since Blue's Clues and Max and Ruby.

As far as toys go, let's just say furry woodland creatures and tiny plastic horses have always and will be my thing. (And also a certain group of multi-colored bears who, well, how do I put this....... ) Winnie the Pooh. Princess Celestia. Buzz Lightyear. Care Bears. Cabbage Patch Kids. Toys are toys as far as I am concerned. It should not matter is they are "age appropriate" or not.

I have a rather large collection of Pooh and My Little Pony stuff myself with a few Care Bears and I'm 18. Even the NT's like the three things I love and I'm talking to people about them online and in places like thrift stores. I have everything from real collectibles to stuffed animals (tons of them) in my collection. If it makes you feel better, I paid $300 to have a large Celestia made. I sleep with her every night. And my folks don't mind and have never minded about the things I love. They'd actually rather me collect those things then play some crud like Grand Theft Auto (which I hate. Really don't like violent and sadistic entertainment you know?).

I wouldn't feel bad about this.....not one bit......

Yes my toys were age-appropriate. But when I was 11 I went through this weird phase of wanting to buy toys that were aimed for 2-6-year-olds. I got my mum to buy me this small 'pocket' piano that played nursery rhymes, a plastic cat that came in a little toy carry cage, and these 3 plastic ducks for the bath.

But at the same time, I was asking my mum to buy me videos of South Park, which is like totally opposite from baby stuff.